Influence of the sediment delivery ratio index on the analysis of silting and break risk in the Plasencia reservoir (Central System,Spain)

The random forest method was used to generate susceptibility maps for debris flows, rock slides, and active layer detachment slides in the Donjek River area within the Yukon Alaska Highway Corridor, based on an inventory of landslides compiled by the Geological Survey of Canada in collaboration with the Yukon Geological Survey. The aim of this study is to develop data-driven landslide susceptibility models which can provide information on risk assessment to existing and planned infrastructure. The factors contributing to slope failure used in the models include slope angle, slope aspect, plan and profile curvatures, bedrock geology, surficial geology, proximity to faults, permafrost distribution, vegetation distribution, wetness index, and proximity to drainage system. A total of 83 debris flow deposits, 181 active layer detachment slides, and 104 rock slides were compiled in the landslide inventory. The samples representing the landslide free zones were randomly selected. The ratio of landslide/landslide free zones was set to 1:1 and 1:2 to examine the results of different sample ratios on the classification. Two-thirds of the samples for each landslide type were used in the classification, and the remaining 1/3 were used to evaluate the results. In addition to the classification maps, probability maps were also created, which served as the susceptibility maps for debris flows, rock slides, and active layer detachment slides. Success and prediction rate curves created to evaluate the performance of the resulting models indicate a high performance of the random forest in landslide susceptibility modelling.     

Mapping fractional landscape soils and vegetation components from Hyperion satellite imagery using an unsupervised machine-learning workflow

An unsupervised machine-learning workflow is proposed for estimating fractional landscape soils and vegetation components from remotely sensed hyperspectral imagery. The workflow is applied to EO-1 Hyperion satellite imagery collected near Ibirací, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The proposed workflow includes subset feature selection, learning, and estimation algorithms. Network training with landscape feature class realizations provide a hypersurface from which to estimate mixtures of soil (e.g. 0.5 exceedance for pixels: 75% clay-rich Nitisols, 15% iron-rich Latosols, and 1% quartz-rich Arenosols) and vegetation (e.g. 0.5 exceedance for pixels: 4% Aspen-like trees, 7% Blackberry-like trees, 0% live grass, and 2% dead grass). The process correctly maps forests and iron-rich Latosols as being coincident with existing drainages, and correctly classifies the clay-rich Nitisols and grasses on the intervening hills. These classifications are independently corroborated visually (Google Earth) and quantitatively (random soil samples and crossplots of field spectra). Some mapping challenges are the underestimation of forest fractions and overestimation of soil fractions where steep valley shadows exist, and the under representation of classified grass in some dry areas of the Hyperion image. These preliminary results provide impetus for future hyperspectral studies involving airborne and satellite sensors with higher signal-to-noise and smaller footprints.     

Automatic detection of earthquake-induced ground failure effects through Faster R-CNN deep learning-based object detection using satellite images

Natural Hazards - The seismically induced ground failure is defined as any earthquake-generated process that leads to deformations within a soil medium, which in turn results in permanent...     

Causes and consequences of long-term groundwater overabstraction in Jordan

Hydrogeology Journal - In 2017, a comprehensive review of groundwater resources in Jordan was carried out for the first time since 1995. The change in groundwater levels between 1995 and 2017 was...     

Morphosedimentary features and recent depositional architectural model of the Cantabrian continental margin

Multibeam bathymetry, high (sleeve airguns) and very high resolution (parametric system-TOPAS-) seismic records were used to define the morphosedimentary features and investigate the depositional architecture of the Cantabrian continental margin. The outer shelf (down to 180–245 m water depth) displays an intensively eroded seafloor surface that truncates consolidated ancient folded and fractured deposits. Recent deposits are only locally present as lowstand shelf-margin deposits and a transparent drape with bedforms. The continental slope is affected by sedimentary processes that have combined to create the morphosedimentary features seen today. The upper (down to 2000 m water depth) and lower (down to 3700–4600 m water depth) slopes are mostly subject to different types of slope failures, such as slides, mass-transport deposits (a mix of slumping and mass-flows), and turbidity currents. The upper slope is also subject to the action of bottom currents (the Mediterranean Water — MW) that interact with the Le Danois Bank favouring the reworking of the sediment and the sculpting of a contourite system. The continental rise is a bypass region of debris flows and turbidity currents where a complex channel-lobe transition zone (CLTZ) of the Cap Ferret Fan develops.The recent architecture depositional model is complex and results from the remaining structural template and the great variability of interconnected sedimentary systems and processes. This margin can be considered as starved due to the great sediment evacuation over a relatively steep entire depositional profile. Sediment is eroded mostly from the Cantabrian and also the Pyrenees mountains (source) and transported by small stream/river mountains to the sea. It bypasses the continental shelf and when sediment arrives at the slope it is transported through a major submarine drainage system (large submarine valleys and mass-movement processes) down to the continental rise and adjacent Biscay Abyssal Plain (sink). Factors controlling this architecture are tectonism and sediment source/dispersal, which are closely interrelated, whereas sea-level changes and oceanography have played a minor role (on a long-term scale).     

The effect of human use of sandy beaches on developmental stability of Talitrus saltator (Montagu, 1808) (Crustacea, Amphipoda). A study on fluctuating asymmetry

In recent years, there has been an increasing intensity of human use of coastal areas in Galicia (NW Spain). Actually, there is great concern about rapid and unplanned urban and industrial development on certain locations, as this can generate adverse impacts on those areas. In this study, we selected three sandy beaches along the Galician coast (Chanteiro, Insuela and Valieros) facing different levels of anthropic pressure, and we analysed Talitrus saltator individuals with the aim of elucidating whether anthropogenic pressures on beaches such as tourism or pollution have an influence on the incidence of morphological developmental alterations in sandhoppers in the field. Specifically, levels of fluctuating asymmetry were selected as indicators of environmental stress. Results of two sampling dates (May and September) show that individuals collected at the most touristy and polluted beach were those showing the highest asymmetry values, although results were only statistically significant for samples collected during spring. Results are in accordance with the hypothesis that beach management and pollution reduce symmetry in sandhoppers living in altered beaches.     

The role of basement inheritance faults in the recent fracture system of the inner shelf around Alboran Island,Western Mediterranean

Fractures associated with volcanic rock outcrops on the inner shelf of Alboran Island, Western Mediterranean, were mapped on the basis of a side-scan sonar mosaic. Absolute maximum fracture orientation frequency is NW–SE to NNW–SSE, with several sub-maxima oriented NNE–SSW, NE–SW and ENE–WSW. The origin of the main fracture systems in Neogene and Quaternary rocks of the Alboran Basin (south Spain) appears to be controlled by older structures, namely NE–SW and WNW–ESE to NW–SE faults which cross-cut the basement. These faults, pre-Tortonian in origin, have been reactivated since the early Neogene in the form of strike-slip and extensional movements linked to the recent stress field in this area. Fracture analysis of volcanic outcrops on the inner continental shelf of Alboran Island suggests that the shelf has been deformed into a narrow shear zone limited by two NE–SW-trending, sub-parallel high-angle faults, the main orientation and density of which have been influenced by previous WNW–ESE to NW–SE basement fractures.     

A Road to Conflict: Stakeholder’s and Social Network Analysis of the Media Portrayals of a Social-Environmental Conflict in Bolivia

Society’s understanding of a conflict is mediated by information provided in mass media, for which researchers stress the importance of analyzing media portrays of stakeholders in a conflict. We analyze information from the Bolivian press regarding the construction of a road crossing the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS). Using stakeholder’s and social network analyses, we explore stakeholder’s positions and alliances as represented in the media and contrast it with previous scholarly work. We found that some actors cited as central in scholar analyses of the conflict are largely absent in the media (e.g., private investors, conservationist sector) and that the media tend to present stakeholders as having more homogeneous positions than the academic literature does while also neglecting some important alliances in their account. The media also suggests that Indigenous communities are forging stronger alliances with urban sectors and civil society, alliances not stressed by researchers.     

Synergetic efficiency of Lidar and WorldView-2 for 3D urban cartography in Northeast Mexico

Three-dimensional urban cartography is needed for city changes’ assessment. The variety of studies using 3D calculations of urban elements grows each year. Building and vegetation volumes are necessary to assess and understand spatio-temporal urban changeable environments. However, there are technical questions as to which method can improve 3D urban cartographic accuracy. The innovative part of this current study is the creation of a six-band hybrid obtained from LIDAR and WorldView2 synergy. Two different enhancement algorithms demonstrated the most important spectral features for the urban development and vegetation classes. Results indicated an improvement in accuracy by up to 21.3%, according to the Kappa coefficient. Both infra-red band and intensity band were the most significant, according to the principal components analysis. The synergy delimited classes and polygons, as well as the direct display of information regarding heights of elements and improving the extraction of roads, buildings and vegetation classes.     

Modal Wave Number Tomography for South China Sea Front

1 .IntroductionTheSouthChinaSealiestothesoutheastpartoftheChinesecontinent.TheKuroshioflowsbytheeastsideoftheLuzonStraitfromsouthtonorthinwinter ,spring ,andautumn .TheKuroshioaf fectsnearcurrentfieldsandtemperaturefields,changingtheoceanenvironmentparametersandsoundpropagation .Thus ,theoceanacoustictomographytechniqueisofpotentialtolong term ,largescalemonitoringoftheocean .Themodalwavenumbertomographymethod (Rajanetal.,1 987;Frisketal.,1 989)isusedtoobtainthesoundspeedprofileinwatercol…